Who will I invite to co-create with me in this purpose?
How will this build community?
How will this echo out to our children’s grandchildren?
Last month I decided to surprise my daughter.
Secretly, I began writing down recipes for her as she headed off to live on her own, with friends, for the first time. I knew she was excited to start cooking in her own kitchen.
But as I jotted down the dishes I knew, a pang grew in my stomach. I wished I had more to offer. I felt, as I sometimes do, our vulnerability as a two-person home, our fractures across extended family, our distance from our ancestors.
I took a breath.
I've come to recognize that not enough voice, and am learning to transcend it. I'm learning to practice abundance, even when life feels scarce.
Ideas began to simmer. Maybe I could ask my sister and mother to share some recipes too, I thought. Maybe I could ask our family far away too? And heck, how about my friends here in Michigan, our old friends across the country, our whole network of loving people?
Like a whiff of fresh mint, these ideas energized me and filled me with joy.
When my daughter opened up the 60 page recipe notebook I’d mailed to her, food memories poured out from far and wide, across miles and families and generations. Through the phone I could feel her smile. In my heart I imagined her grandchildren nourished by recipes passed down long ago.
Our recipe notebook surprised both of us. It reminded us how much loving wisdom surrounds us all the time. How much we have, even when we’re on our own, starting something new. How much we pass onto the future simply through easeful daily love.
There’s a recipe in this story, made up of three questions I won't forget:
Who will I invite to co-create with me in this purpose?
How will this build community?
How will this echo out to our children’s grandchildren?
It’s a recipe with all the ingredients we need.
New Video! New Moon was honored to celebrate Indigenous women's leadership in collaboration with Return to the Heart Foundation on their new video story, "Our Amazing First Year!". (Shout out to our brilliant editor Jason Walker!).